Sonic the Hedgehog[b] is a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game series published by Sega. Directed by Jeff Fowler (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, it stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, alongside Jim Carrey and James Marsden, with supporting roles by Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, and Neal McDonough. The film follows Sonic (voiced by Schwartz), a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog who can run supersonic speeds. He teams up with a town sheriff, Tom Wachowski (Marsden), to stop the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Carrey).
Development for a Sonic film began in the 1990s but did not leave the planning stage until Sony Pictures acquired the rights in 2013. Fowler was brought in to direct in 2016. After Sony put the project in turnaround, Paramount Pictures acquired it in 2017. Most of the cast signed on by August 2018, and principal filming took place between September and October that year in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. Following the negative reaction to the first trailer in 2019, Paramount delayed the film by three months to redesign Sonic.
Sonic 3 And Knuckles Project Ang
On a distant planet, Sonic, a young anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed, is unexpectedly attacked by an echidna tribe. His guardian, an anthropomorphic owl named Longclaw, gives him a bag of warp rings that open portals to other planets. She uses one to send him to Earth while she stays behind to hold off the echidnas, leaving Sonic alone.
MGM and Sega hired Richard Jefferies, an associate of Risley from her days at Marvel Comics, to write a film treatment. At the time, Sega was developing the video game Sonic X-treme (which was canceled in late 1996) for its next console, the Sega Saturn, and asked Jefferies to feature the Saturn in the screenplay. Jefferies' treatment, Sonic: Wonders of the World, was submitted in May 1995. While the draft received a positive response among MGM and Sega executives, Sega COO Shinobu Toyoda suggested Kalinske replace Robotnik with a meaner villain. MGM canceled the project after a failed attempt to revive it at DreamWorks. Jeffries suggested that the film was scrapped as both Sega and MGM wanted a higher share of the profits, while Densham said it followed creative differences between Sega and Trilogy.[26]
In 2002, Ben Hurst consulted DIC Entertainment about the possibility of making an animated Sonic film to serve as a continuation of the animated Sonic the Hedgehog television series, in which he worked as a writer. DiC put Hurst in contact with a Sega executive interested in the idea. Hurst was contacted by Ken Penders, writer of the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, who had been alerted of Hurst's plans. Though Hurst told him his strategy and offered to include him in his effort, Penders told Sega that Hurst was trying to co-opt the franchise, leading Sega to dismiss Hurst and his proposal.[27] In September 2003, Penders pitched his own concept for a Sonic film, Sonic Armageddon. In Penders' words, the movie would have been an origin story and a series reset, resolving the plot threads which began in the animated Sonic show and continued in Archie's comic series. The project was dropped in 2007 due to a corporate upheaval and the death of Sega licensing manager Robert Leffler, who had supported Penders.[28]
In August, Ben Schwartz joined the cast to voice Sonic.[41] This marked a rare occasion in which the character would not be voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who has been voicing Sonic in most incarnations since 2010.[42] Schwartz, a fan of the original video games, was chosen for the role after Fowler and Miller cast him for a test reading as they pitched the project to several studios.[43] Having enjoyed his performance, they officially cast Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.[43] Adam Pally and Neal McDonough were added to the cast later that month.[44] Debs Howard and Elfina Luk joined the cast the following November.[45] Riff Raff was cast in an undisclosed role, but was cut from the film.[46][47][48]
A second trailer revealing the redesigned Sonic was released on November 12, 2019.[84] The trailer received far more positive responses, with many praising Sonic's new design. The tone and the humor also received positive reviews, as did the choice of song, J. J. Fad's "Supersonic" and Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop".[85] Naka said he felt the new design was "much more Sonic-like".[86] The second trailer received thousands of likes and the highest like-to-dislike ratio of any trailer on Google in the last three years.[87] The trailers have garnered a total of more than 500 million views worldwide.[64] As a promotional tie-in, the version of Sonic seen in the film was added as a playable character to the mobile games Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces.[88]
On December 8, 2020, it was confirmed that artist Tyson Hesse would reprise his role for storyboard artist Fill Marc as he said the following: "I wrapped up work on Lower Decks Season 2 last week. Excited 2 announce I've been working on the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Story Team with Jeff Fowler and Tyson Hesse at Blur Studio. My first live action feature coming in 2022." This will be Marc's first live-action project.[157] In January 2021, Sumpter announced that she was reprising her role as Maddie. She also announced that the sequel would film in Vancouver and Hawaii.[158] The film's title, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, was confirmed on February 10, 2021.[159] On March 15, 2021, Jeff Fowler confirmed that production of the film had begun.[160] The film was released on March 30, 2022 in France and the Netherlands, April 1 in the U.K. and on April 8 in the U.S. [161]
Naka was dissatisfied with his treatment at Sega and felt he received little credit for his involvement in the success. He quit but was hired by Cerny to work at the US-based Sega Technical Institute (STI), with a higher salary and more creative freedom. Yasuhara also decided to move to STI.[24][23] STI began work on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) in November 1991.[24] Level artist Yasushi Yamaguchi designed Sonic's new sidekick, Tails, a flying two-tailed fox inspired by the mythological kitsune.[3] Like its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was a major success, but its development suffered from the language barrier and cultural differences between the Japanese and American developers.[25] While STI developed Sonic 2, Ohshima led a team in Japan to create Sonic CD for the Genesis's CD-ROM accessory, the Sega CD;[26] it was conceived as an enhanced port of Sonic 2, but evolved into a separate project.[27]
Sonic Team USA was renamed Sega Studios USA after completing Sonic Heroes.[15] Sega and Sonic Team leadership became in constant flux while they began experimenting with diverging from the established Sonic formula.[89] Sega Studios USA's first post-Heroes project was Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), a spin-off starring the popular Adventure 2 character Shadow.[105][106] While Shadow retains most elements from previous Sonic games, it was aimed at a mature audience and introduced third-person shooting and nonlinear gameplay.[107] Shadow the Hedgehog was panned for its controls, level design, and mature themes,[108][109] but was a commercial success, selling at least 1.59 million units.[110][111]
Sega began to release more Sonic games for mobile phones,[143] such as iOS and Android devices. After Australian programmer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead developed a version of Sonic CD for modern consoles in 2011, he collaborated with fellow Sonic fan Simon "Stealth" Thomley to develop remasters of the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for iOS and Android, which were released in 2013.[161] The remasters were developed using Whitehead's Retro Engine, an engine tailored for 2D projects,[161] and received praise.[162][163] Sonic Dash (2013), a Temple Run-style endless runner,[164] was developed by Hardlight[165] and downloaded over 350 million times by 2020[166] and received a Sonic Boom-themed sequel in 2015.[167] Sonic Team released Sonic Runners, its first game for mobile devices, in 2015.[168] Sonic Runners was also an endless runner,[168] but was unsuccessful[169] and was discontinued a year after release.[170] Gameloft released a sequel, Sonic Runners Adventure, in 2017 to generally positive reviews.[171][172]
In a 2015 interview with Polygon, Iizuka acknowledged that contemporary Sonic games had been disappointing. He hoped, from then on, that the Sonic Team logo would stand as a "mark of quality"; he planned to release quality games and expand the Sonic brand, while retaining the modern Sonic design.[143] Iizuka and most of Sonic Team relocated to Burbank, California to oversee the franchise with a new team.[89] At the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016, Sega announced two Sonic games to coincide with the series' 25th anniversary: Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces.[173] Both were released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in 2017.[174][175] Sonic Mania was developed by the independent game developers PagodaWest Games and Headcannon with a staff comprising members of the Sonic fandom; Whitehead conceived the project and served as director.[176] The game, which emulates the gameplay and visuals of the Genesis entries, received the best reviews for a Sonic game in 15 years.[177] Meanwhile, Sonic Team developed Sonic Forces, which revives the dual gameplay of Sonic Generations along with a third gameplay style featuring the player's custom character.[178][179] Sonic Forces received mixed reviews,[180] with criticism for its short length.[178][181][182]
In 2019, Sega released a kart racing game, Team Sonic Racing (2019), developed by Sumo Digital.[183][184][185] In May 2021, Sega announced several Sonic projects for the series' 30th anniversary, including a remaster of Sonic Colors, the compilation Sonic Origins, and the 2022 game Sonic Frontiers.[186][187] Frontiers was the first Sonic game to feature open-world inspired design,[188] and Iizuka expressed hope that it would inform future games in a similar way to Sonic Adventure.[187] Frontiers received moderately positive reviews, with critics and fans considering it flawed but a solid direction for the franchise,[189] and sold strongly.[190][191] 2ff7e9595c
Comments